Nick Griffin 'Steps Aside' as Chairman of British National Party

Nick Griffin has stepped down from his leadership role of the British National Party following a disastrous local election campaign earlier this year.

Griffin, who was the chairman of the BNP since 1999, has left the party after it lost all its MPs in May's local elections and only managed to keep two of their councillors.

Griffin is due to be replaced by Adam Walker, BNP's deputy chairman who was given a lifetime teaching ban and a suspended sentence in 2013 after being found guilty of dangerous driving and verbally abusing three boys.

A BNP spokesperson confirmed: "Recently appointed deputy chairman Adam Walker has accepted the role of acting chairman of the British National Party after Nick Griffin stepped aside at a meeting of the BNP National Executive held on 19 July, 2014.

"The full National Executive are united in their support for Adam in this role."

Griffin is set to take up the position of president of the BNP after stepping aside. The party has seen a slide in popularity since it received 6% of the vote in the 2009 European elections.

Griffin, who was declared bankrupt earlier this year, lost his seat in the European Parliament in May.

Walker, who was given a suspended jail sentence after been found guilty of verbally abusing three schoolboys and slashing the tyres on their bikes, has previously been filmed describing Britain as being "ethnically cleansed" and the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby as "tribal African" people.